Strength of Mind
by CultoftheSystem
Summary: I hate summaries a general overview in the first chapter. Raven Harry, OC, OOC, AU, Harry/Someone I have it narrowed down. I have decided on Madame Delacour.....Yes, that is Fluer. She is hawt o.O
1. Chapter 1

Hey, I am CultoftheSystem. This is my first fanfic ever to be posted so try and be nice to me please. Alright, here it goes. This fanfic Strength of Mind, is full of what some call OOC and OC's. Therefore, if you are obsessed with canon and Harry being a nice guy, you should walk away now. I made this fic so what goes in it is my call, to an extent. I am very willing to accept constructive criticism on both my writing style, and any grammatical errors I may have made. If you want to comment on my style either positively or negatively, please do so, but do so constructively. That translates to, I am not going to acknowledge, much less listen to, any morons going "Your story are teh suck! I can rite bett3r th4n j00!" If you would like to tell me that my story is indeed "teh suck" then please do so in a constructive way, I am here to both write and learn, and as such, am very willing to accept any criticism or praise that will help me make my fics more enjoyable for you, the reader.

So just to reiterate all of that. OOC! OC! If you don't like those then read but don't comment on my lack of canon. Other than that, feel free to help me out on my writing, it will only make the story better.

General Overview

Harry is not the Boy who Lived. His younger brother is. His brother doesn't come into the story much until 3rd year and even then, its minimal amounts. Harry is in Ravenclaw, and is brainy. Arthur, Harry's brother is a classic Gryffindor, pretty much a canon Harry. The story has Harry 2ish years older than canon because I want to have him work in the real world and do stuff before the fall of voldy. So harry is going to a lot like me I guess, colder and more cynical. Enjoys making fun of people and keeping them far away until they actually know him, at which point he becomes cuddly and nicer when poking fun -.-

If you want to know more then read.

First chapter is short. Next chapters will be longer.

Harry awoke with a start as his alarm went off. Jumping out of bed he hastily threw on a clean set of clothes and he ran downstairs. Today he was eleven; today he would receive his letter from Hogwarts accepting him as a student. As he walked into the kitchen he saw his parents cooing over a spoilt looking 8 year old child with a scar on his forehead, his younger brother Arthur. Sighing, Harry took a seat and greeted his parents.

"Morning Mum, morning Dad"

"Hey Harry, Happy Birthday " James said as he ruffled his elder son's hair.

'Yes dear happy birthday" his mom added distractedly, "Would you like some breakfast? We were just making some for Arthur."

"Yeah that'd be nice"

After placing some eggs and ham on a plate Lily gave it to Harry and wandered off into the living room.

Sitting and eating his breakfast while staring out of the window Harry wondered when his letter from Hogwarts was going to arrive, he had been waiting on it since he had found out that he would probably be attending that school when he turned eleven. "Harry, come to the living room for a sec"

Sighing, Harry got up wondering what his mother could want while meandering his way to the living room. When he arrived he saw a huge stack of stuff, books, robes, quills, a caldron, some parchment, and a trunk. It was a stack of school supplies. To top it all off, next to the mountain of stuff he would need for his stay at Hogwarts were two owls; one was snow white while the other was a brown tawny owl with a letter clamped in its claws. Grabbing the letter Harry examined it noticing that it bore the Hogwarts crest, a lion, a snake, a raven, and a badger, all gathered around an ornate letter 'H'.

Opening the letter Harry pulled out the letter from Hogwarts. James was grinning as he encouraged Harry to read it aloud.

'_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We regret to inform you that due to your lack of magical ability, you will be unable to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….' _

Placing the letter off to the side Harry sat down heavily, staring in disbelief at the floor.

"What. The. Hell." Harry his voice increasing in volume with each syllable, "What do you mean, 'lack of magical ability'? Are you serious?!"

Still grinning like a demented duck, James pushed the letter on his son again "Go on, finish reading it.'

"You have to be kidding…..You actually think I am going to continue reading that slop?!" Finally Harry crumpled underneath the depressed yet slightly comical face of his father, "Fine whatever,

'_That compounded with the obvious fact that you lack your fathers good looks and charm, we are going to deny you right to appeal your reje…..'_" Harry stopped, noticing what he had just read, "You are a dead man James."

Harry's father was so busy rolling on the floor laughing that he could barely breathe; much less answer his irate son. Slowly gaining control of himself James stood up, brushed himself off, and, after pulling his wand out from his pocket, and tapped the paper.

"With book smarts like yours I am surprised you never catch any of my concealment charms Harry."

"I swear to Christ James. When I get back from school you won't ever have a moments rest, Marauder or not, I will prank you to hell."

James couldn't help but shudder at his son's evil grin.

After the excitement that occurred on his birthday harry began going through his birthday presents. The books he tossed aside having already read other copies of them, and then he cleared off his desk placing his copies of _ "Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5, The Hidden Power: A Guide to Concealing, Stone to Wand: Battle Transfiguration Volume II (Intermediate) _and_, Darkest Hour, Brightest Light: A Defensive Manual against the Dark Arts" _He put his caldron on top of it, closely examining every inch of it.

'Pewter….a tad of silver…..meaning its Standard #2 Caldron'

Harry liked examining things, it helped him gain insight on various objects, and improved his ability to detect hidden things especially things hidden magically. Out of all the people Harry knew, only his father and Remus Lupin were able to trick his senses, and even then, they had to stretch their Marauder abilities to their limits. After he finished examining his caldron Harry turned to his owl, she was a beautiful snowy owl, with feathers of the purest white, golden eyes and an amber beak. "What should I name you," Harry voiced his thoughts to the bird, hoping that the owl itself would offer answers to his question, "I've got it, Hedwig!" The owl hooted in a strangely approving manner as she ruffled her feathers and closed her eyes to sleep. Agreeing with his owl's plans, Harry walked over to his sink, brushed his teeth then shut off the lights as he plopped into bed, sinking into his sheets and slumber.

Harry was wandering around in the dark, it seemed that the world was completely shrouded in black, he could hear echoic voices bouncing off the invisible walls of his dark prison turning the gentle whispers into an unintelligible din. Harry then had the inspiration to sit down and try to discern what the voices were muttering. Lowering himself to the ground Harry cleared his head, allowing his mind to become calm and blank. At first it was difficult, and Harry would have to beat back random thoughts bouncing around in his head, then as soon as he completely cleared his head the mutterings were silent, the echoes ceased, and everything became as though nothing had happened; the sun started shining, the blackness receded to the far corners and into various shadows throughout his, now natural-looking, dreamscape. '_What the hell?'_ Harry thought trying to make sense of what was happening in his own mind. Then he woke up.

'That dream was bloody weird' Harry thought as he rose from bed, walking over to the sink to take care of his daily ablutions. After he finished washing Harry made his way downstairs to his parents only to find no one in the house. On the table he found a note in his mother's handwriting

'_Hey Harry,_

_On the mantelpiece above the fireplace you will find some floo powder and 100 galleons. You can go to Diagon Alley in order to spend the money, but make sure you pick up a wand. This is your father's apology for what he did to your letter yesterday, so enjoy it!_

_Love,_

_Mom'_

"Well that's pretty cool," Harry was so excited that he voiced his thoughts to no one. Running up the stairs he grabbed his brush combed his straightened hair out of his eyes, placed his designer glasses on the bridge of his nose, and wandered over to his closet to grab some clothes. Opening the door he looked inside trying to separate the neatly organized garments, Harry knew just what he was looking for, he wanted his ankle length zip up leather coat(Think Organization XIII minus hood) a pair of black pants and some dragon hide boots , that along with a plain black t-shirt would complete his dressings for the day. When Harry was properly dressed he walked over to the fireplace, dropped the bag full of coins into his pocket, took a pinch of the green powder dropped into the flames and shouted "Diagon Alley!" and spun off into the green flames.

**R&R** please - It can only make my story better.


	2. Chapter 2

Landing in the pub gracefully, Harry brushed off his jacket and walked outside into the cool sunlight. It was February, February the 22nd to be precise, and Harry was in no mood to wander around in the cold. Setting off towards Olivander's the young boy stopped outside of a strange shop on the edge of Knockturn Alley. 'Wandmakers Ethereal?' Harry thought, 'Sounds interesting.' Walking into the strange shop he heard a soft tinkle announcing his arrival to the owners of the store. A dark haired witch walked down from a staircase on Harry's right and welcomed him with a smile, revealing her very white, very even teeth. "Wand shopping are we?" asked the witch after introducing herself as Tsuki. "Well let's start off traditional, and work our way from there. Here, Birch, Unicorn Hair, 9 inches, springy. Well? What are you waiting for?" Tsuki admonished while waving her hands in Harry's general direction, "Wave it about!"

Giving the wand a wave Harry found that nothing happened, in fact he felt cold, as if the twig in his hand was sucking the heat away from his body. He looked up at Tsuki only to see her hastening towards him.

"That's no good drop it back inside the box dear," Tsuki held up the box waiting for Harry to drop the wand inside. Placing that box aside and pulled another, longer one out. "Holly, dragon heartstring, 11 inches, stiff, good for work with curses and the like."

Giving the wand a wave, Harry again felt a strange unpleasant feeling, almost as if he were really itchy everywhere and yet nowhere. Not waiting on Tsuki's prodding, Harry dropped the wand back in its box and looked expectantly at the shop owner.

"Oak, 13 inches, phoenix feather," Harry waved that one, and again dropped it back into the box, only to be handed another wand. "Pine…." Harry wasn't even paying attention to the wand specifications anymore; he was just blindly waving wands about trying to find one that suited him. "Enough of this" Tsuki finally stated, "I know the wand for you, I just made it, it is an unorthodox mix of magical objects from my own country." Grabbing a medium length box from the top of the back shelf, she opened it and handed the lightweight wand to Harry.

"9 Inches, Sakura wood, Hair from the tail of a Bakeneko, light as a feather, excellent dueling wand, great for transfiguration. " Harry held the wand feeling the warmth seemingly emanating from it, then as if acting on instinct threw a Blasting Hex at the nearest shelf, reducing it to dust and, ignoring the witch's protests; he flicked the wand again, returning the shelf to its previous state. "Wow," Harry stated, obviously in awe of the wand in his hands, "How much?"

Still recovering from the shock of seeing an eleven year old boy obliterate and then repair one of her damage resistant shelves, she looked through her registry, "35 Galleons, 5 sickles, and 4 knuts."

Harry handed over an even 40 galleons telling her to keep the change for all the effort she went through. Opening the door and heading out into the cold again Harry felt a strange magical presence on his body, as if a ward had just been placed on him. Telling himself that he would investigate the strange feeling later he wandered into the Leaky Caldron to get a butterbear.

"Hey Tom! How's it going?" Harry asked the toothless bartender.

‑­

"Not too bad, yerself?"

"I'm working my way through; could you toss me a butterbeer please?"

Tom slid the butterbeer down the bar and harry placed his 4 sickles on the countertop, picked up his drink and left Diagon Alley through the fire.

Arriving at his house from his excursion in Diagon Alley Harry called out for his parents and they ansered from the kitchen.

"Harry we're in here, come over here and show us your new wand!"

Taking his time in walking to the kitchen Harry took his wand out of the sleeve of his coat, the light wood shining in the dimly lit hallway making its owner grin.

"Let me see that!"

James grabbed the wand out of Harry's hands intent on being the first one to examine it.

"Hmmmmm, all in all a strange wand, a wood I don't know of and a core," James held the wand close to his eyes, "that is befuddling to say the least." Waving the wand James attempted to conjure a table cloth only to have the wand make a loud bang, creating a small handkerchief instead. "It's broken," James refused to believe that it could be his fault for failing, instead blaming it on an innocent wand. Sighing harry snatched his wand back from his occasionally idiotic father.

"Honey be a dear and go play the piano for me, you know how happy it makes me," Lily pleaded with her son.

"Fine fine," Harry said with a sigh, he walked over to the black baby grand piano and began to play one of his favorites, The Moonlight Sonata. Slowly he began the spacey tune, with its first movement being a steady even slow beat, lulling the listener into a sense of contentment, picking up speed and becoming bouncier as the second movement approached. Allowing himself to relax from the stiff timing of the first movement Harry moved onto the more relaxed second movement, his hands bouncing up and down landing each chord and staccato'd note with practiced precision ending on the soft chord. After the brief interim of silence he changed into the rapid tempo of the third movement, his hands dancing rapidly as they slid up and down the keys. His hands moving from octave to octave stretching and flowing beautifully, hitting each chord with ease each trill, each scale, each arpeggio-like movement like it was no more than child's play. To anyone watching Harry it would seem that the boy, usually introverted and introspective, was a different person. He was in a different world, smiling, moving, and flowing from movement to movement. This was the Harry that Lily loved, not that she didn't love her son unconditionally, she did, and she just loved seeing him so free, so happy. Often she would ask her son to play, not out of her want to hear music, but instead her want to see her child relaxed and happy. Harry's body tensed up as he finished the piece, the soft time before the ending the perfect cool down to the songs immense gusto, the gradual pickup until the last three chords which ‑­

resounded off the walls of their house filling all of the listeners with a sense of fulfillment. Lily softly applauded her son as he lifted his hands and began to play Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu.

Later that night, after Harry had played his hands numb, the young wizard walked up to his room, greeted Hedwig and promptly fell asleep.

The next months went by in much of a similar manner, Harry dodging tricks from his father, playing piano, and reading magical theory. Then the first of September came. At King's Cross, Harry kissed his mother goodbye and used the opportunity to legally use magic to put a "Kick me" sign on his father's back that only people who would be willing to kick the middle –aged man would be able to see. Waving goodbye James said to his wife " I am gonna miss the little bugger, he was fun to try to pull one over on. OUCH what the hell was that Arthur?"

"You have a sign on your back, it told me to kick you, so I kicked you," Arthur giggled.

A bemused James Potter tried to turn his shirt around only to find that there was no sign, that he could see, the proceeded to yell comically at his younger child.

Walking down the train Harry soon realized that finding an empty cart would be near impossible, so he picked one with short spiked hair dyed blonde. Walking in Harry sat down next to the boy and pulled out his wand from the sleeve of his coat which was unzipped today and underneath Harry was wearing what appeared to be a collared shirt made of a black silky material. He began waving his wand in a complicated pattern while muttering under his breath only to be interrupted by the blonde boy "I know you are a first year….stop trying to do magic, you will only hurt yourself."

"Hey, you" Harry said looking pointedly at the blonde boy.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." Harry told the boy as he cast a silencing charm on his compartment-mate and returned to his complicated wand waving and muttering. After about a minute of his quite incantationing, a small upright piano appeared with a pop right in between the seats. Then turning to the silenced boy next to him 'I know you are a first year too moron, look your trunk is in perfect condition with robes hanging out of it and a neutral colored tie, none of your clothing has been modified for your house." Then casting the counter charm Harry returned the gift of speech back to his confused and irritated neighbor.

"Excuse me, but what in the bloody he…."

"Were you about to say something? Oh never mind, what's your name again? I think I missed while you were busy openly reveling in your own stupidity, 'you'll only hurt yourself'" Harry said, adding a scoffing noise to accompany his quote.

The blonde boy looked like he had just been hit in the head with something very heavy. He stared at Harry with a blank look of shock in his eyes. "My name is Lelouche DeVries, nice to meet you…"

‑­

"Harry, Harry Potter" Harry said, as he held out his hand to the boy. Lelouche took his hand and shook it saying "Blimey, I didn't think that anyone knew magic _before_ they started school."

Harry shrugged and then turned to his piano and began to play a soft off-beat tune, "Is that Bach'ss Toccata in D Minor?" Lelouche asked. Without looking up, Harry nodded the affirmative and continued to play. After he finished the piece, he flexed his fingers, and stared pointedly at the boy next to him, "You play?"

"Nah, I have the ear, but my fingers are less than dexterous." Lelouche then picked a book out of his bag and began to read, "You can keep playing if you like, I rather enjoy it." Not needing another prod, Harry turned back to his instrument.

The ride went on for some hours, and by the time it was time for them to depart the train Harry had already changed into his school robes and vanished his piano.

"Firs' years, Firs' years over here!" A booming voice rolled out over the crowd of students, making itself heard by all. The owner of this voice, a ten foot tall, heavily bearded man waited for them. When they all arrived he waved "Me name's Rubeus Hagrid, if yeh come this way I'll get you up t' the school." The mass of students followed the huge man to the edge of a giant lake at which point all of the students sat in the small flotilla of rowboats on the shore. As they glided over the glass-like surface of the lake Harry looked up to see the castle. Shrouded in a mist, with the moonlight in the background, and each of the hundreds of windows illuminated by a flickering torchlight the castle was one of the most beautiful sights Harry had ever seen. Harry's wonder at the beauty of the castle was only broken when a splash came from the lake. Looking over Harry saw a huge squid, the size of a Kraken, break the surface of the water. "Don' worry tha's only the squid," Hagrid boomed out, over the gasps of the other students, "Won' hert you unless you hert it firs'. Wunderful beast." Harry sat back in his seat as one of his boats occupants asked, "What house do you think you'll be in?"

"I don't really mind all that much, so long as I learn."

"Raven," said the boy, nodding sagely, "Couldn't care less as long as he's learning? That's a classic bird."

Harry shook his head and continued looking at the castle. The boats glided underneath archway into a dim cave. Upon exiting his boat Harry turned to see a stern old woman looking down on them from a staircase. "Hello, I am Professor McGonagal. Welcome to Hogwarts."


End file.
